Mainframes are widely recognized in the IT industry as the most securable platform. My “(Blank) Needs a Mainframe” series of periodic posts is a reminder that the IT community continues to fail at security, and that mainframes should form part of a holistic answer to fix this massive, growing, industry-wide failure.

This series of posts also reminds the mainframe community to be more vigilant than ever, not to assume that your mainframe environment is invulnerable. I recommend “healthy paranoia.” Every IBM mainframe ships with incredible security capabilities, many enabled by default, and more are optionally available. However, IT teams must know what they’re doing, must stay abreast of developments and technologies, and must competently operate their systems based on the latest information. And here’s a special reminder to CEOs, CFOs, and Chief Risk Officers: if you’re not caring for and investing in your workforce, you are significantly raising the risk of being the next victim of a security breach. “You get what you pay for,” including IT talent (or lack thereof).

Just getting to this comment now… :S
As most mainframers these days we’re overloaded and overworked and not enough time to update content. We’ll contact you privately about writing up some articles. It’s good to find others in the community.